


Know When to Fold ‘Em

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Meant to Be [17]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2416355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone was talking except Chief Sam Kassmeyer.  He barely uttered a word about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Know When to Fold ‘Em

The loud thunder woke her but Jessie didn’t open her eyes. She just moved over on the bed to cuddle closer to her husband. Then she opened her eyes. Sam wasn’t there. She sighed, not liking that one bit. There was nothing she could do about it but she hated it anyway.

Her hand moved across the mattress; it was warm so he hadn't been gone for long. Jessie rubbed her eyes and looked at the alarm clock. It was 2:49am. No one needed to be out of bed at this hour. It had been a long day and they both needed sleep. He probably did even more than she but she was asleep and he wasn’t.

Saturday started as any other would. Sam was working 3 to 11 and Jessie didn’t have to go into the diner until noon so he woke up first and made them a nice breakfast. They didn’t really talk much. Jessie didn’t like the silence but she understood it.

After breakfast Sam started some laundry and made phone calls while Jessie got ready to start her day. The diner was always crazy busy on the weekends and she was going to work until six. She left the house at 11:30, sharing a kiss with her husband. Sam promised to call or text her while he was working and he kept his promises, as always.

When Jessie left the diner, she drove to Manchester to meet up with Desi. They were doing girls’ night. Desi’s husband Rick was having poker night, which Desi swore was code for the strip club. Not that she cared one bit…she loved and trusted her husband. Men were just men; sometimes they wanted to see a different pair of tits. Jessie couldn’t believe she was taking it all in stride.

_“I think I would kill Sam if he went to a strip club.” She said._

“I think I would fall over dying if I found out he ever went to one.” Desi countered.

“How can you just be OK with something like that?”

“What's wrong with it? Rick is a good guy, a good husband…I couldn’t ask for better. If he wants to waste his money once a month on tits and ass, its fine with me. Besides, I can't confirm that poker night is a euphemism for strip club, but isn’t it the perfect excuse on why he comes home $250 broker every time. You’d think by now he’d have perfected his poker face or know when to fold ‘em.”

“That’s true.” Jessie laughed. “Still, I admire you for being so good about it.”

“On the grand scale of things my husband does to irk me, tit bars are seriously low.” Desi replied. “I'm still trying to break him out of wet towels on the floor and loose socks in the hamper. I mean c'mon, loose socks in the hamper, who does that?”

“Sam treats his clothes as if they’re sacred…clean or dirty.”

“Sam’s perfect.”

“He is not.” Jessie replied.

“Tell me three bad things about him.” Desi said laughing. “I've known him my whole life and I can't think of one. He rarely uses foul language, he isn’t a womanizer, and he stops at stop signs…he’s perfect.”

Jessie tried to think about three things. Sam wasn’t perfect; no one was. She knew a lot of her friends thought that about him, sometimes even she did. But surely there was something about him she would change if she could.

“He holds things in sometimes and I don’t think he should do that.” she said. “He helps everyone, even to his own detriment. And people can take advantage of that, though I don’t like assuming they do it intentionally. He’s overprotective sometimes; seems to forget I spent plenty of years on my own and can handle what I need to handle. He's not perfect.”

“But he's close.” Desi nudged her and grinned.

“OK, I can concede that he's close…at least for me. He’s perfect for me.”

“So if Mr. Perfect for Me said he wanted to visit a strip club, what would you do?”

Jessie thought about it as she sipped her wine.

“He better tell me its poker night.”

Jessie got out of bed and left the bedroom. The house was so quiet, the neighborhood was as well. It wasn’t always a guarantee that Peach Street would be, even at this hour. She walked down the hall and then the stairs. Halfway down, Jessie could see that the front door was wide open. Normally that would've frightened her but she figured Sam was out there.

She had no idea what he was doing but he was out there. For a while she just stood behind the security door and looked at him. He was standing there in his pajama pants and tee shirt, looking out on the rainy street. No cars were driving by, no people walking, the world was asleep. Sam Kassmeyer was wide awake and now so was his wife. Jessie quietly opened the door and went out there.

“Sam?”

“Hmm?” he turned around and tried to smile. “I didn’t mean to wake you honey.”

“Are you OK?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” he asked.

“I know you wouldn’t lie to me.” Jessie replied.

“I'm OK; just had a little trouble sleeping.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jessie wrapped her arms around him from behind, holding on tight.

She wasn’t going to let him float away. She knew the case he’d been working on was tough. The whole town was shattered in one way or another. It was going to take a long time for people to move on from what happened. But she didn’t need to concern herself with everyone.

Sam was Jessie’s main concern and he was right in the thick of all that was happening. Suspects were in jail now, evidence was being processed, some witnesses were talking…the entire town was talking. Everyone was talking except Chief Sam Kassmeyer. He barely uttered a word about it.

“I do but I hardly know what to say. In the next few days this case is going to come full circle. Sure there will be trials, lawyers, and all of that but it’s going in the black on our board. I for one won't be sad to see it go.”

“You’ve arrested everyone?” Jessie asked.

“We have one more arrest to make, the most difficult, and probably won't be able to talk to Sam David for another week or so. But I'm confident in handing this over to the Hillsborough County DA’s office. If it comes to trial, that’s gonna be CeCe Hillenbrand’s responsibility. I can go back to my drunken disorderlies, domestic squabbles, and occasional violent crime. I'm really OK with that.”

“Then why can't you sleep?” she reached her hand under his tee shirt to rub his stomach. Jessie loved Sam’s stomach. It was the perfect combination of soft and hard, just like the man himself. She loved the way he sighed when she rubbed it and she loved feeling the butterflies.

“I slept a little, baby.” He replied.

“You came in at 11:30 and its just 3am. That’s not sleep where I come from.”

“I'm trying to put it all behind me and I fear that might be easier said than done. This case will be over soon. That doesn’t mean that things will just go back to normal. I don’t know how I’ll ever forget what I saw in that house.

“The things that Prophet told me and what the suspects said…” Sam stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I hear them and see them when I fall asleep at night. There is this part of me that knows that can't last forever but its happening now. I'm looking forward to being off tomorrow and not having to think about it for a whole day.”

“Do you think you can manage?” she asked.

Sam sighed, turning in her arms. He held Jessie close and just exhaled. He wanted to manage, he really did. Life would go on after this horrible tragedy.

Sam and Hotch had talked about it at some length. He still had his wife, his job, his friends, the books he wanted to read, his bowling league…there was plenty to keep Sam’s mind occupied for a long time coming. All he needed to do was focus on it. His wife would get his attention first.

“Well I had a plan, wanna hear it?”

“You know I do.”

“We were gonna start by sleeping in. Then, we were gonna make love…really, really, really good love.”

“I like it already.” Jessie smiled.

“I would cook you breakfast in bed, then make love to you again. After that, we’ll get in the car and drive away.”

“It’s probably important to mention that we’ll shower first.”

“We can do that together,” Sam said grinning. “It saves both time and water.”

“Where are you taking me, Chief Kassmeyer?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise. I want you to wear one of those pretty sundresses you bought a few weeks ago and I’ll put on something that makes me look handsome.”

“Everything makes you look handsome.” Jessie hugged him.

“We’ll just get away, Jess. Leave Newberry for the day and just focus on the two of us. I wish I could give you even more of my attention but tomorrow will be a good start.”

“Do you really just want to get away?”

“Yes, I do. I need to refocus. I love my job; justice is very important to me. Sometimes it might preoccupy me though I honestly hope I never have another case like this. You’ve been amazing, Jessie, allowing me to let some things slip and never complaining. I owe you a day where the focus is entirely on you. I want to focus on you, my beautiful, wonderful, fantastic wife. I'm the luckiest man on the planet and tomorrow I'm gonna indulge in it.”

“Today.” Jessie said.

“What?” he looked at her. Damn, she was so beautiful; Sam couldn’t help but kiss her. He smiled when she caressed his face.

“I said today Sam. Its three in the morning…we’re definitely in today.”

“Oh,” he laughed. “You're right. We should probably go upstairs and get some sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Well I'm awake now, and you're awake now. I think you mentioned something about starting with making love. You said really, really, really good love.”

“Baby, I could take you right here.”

“Sam…” she blushed.

“You’ve never thought about it?” He asked.

“You’ve never asked me something like that before.”

“I've got some surprises up my sleeve.”

“You're wearing short sleeves; let them fall out.”

Sam smiled, kissing her passionately. He knew he could take her right there on the front porch. It was no secret how attracted Sam was to his wife. In his imagination he’d taken her everywhere, all over Newberry. She was a willing and able participant. But that was just his fantasy world…Jessie might not be into that kind of thing.

“You never know until you ask.” She whispered, giving him another kiss.

“What?”

“Sam, I can read your thoughts…sometimes. I'm just as eager as you, always.”

“We’ll go inside.” He took her hand and walked over to the security door. “I’ll tell you everything I'm thinking and then we’ll put our heads together and come up with something we’ll both enjoy.”

Jessie couldn’t wait. She loved Sam and wanted to show him how excited he made her. It wasn’t as if their sex life was boring, far from it, but Jessie knew they both held back sometimes. If you couldn’t share your fantasies with the person you loved most in the world then what was the point? It was time to drop the shackles of everything that had been happening around them.

Yes, they would have to pick them back up again but not now and not tomorrow. They needed to be selfish for just a little while and make it all about each other. Usually Jessie would balk at the idea. She wasn’t balking as she went into the house with her husband.

He locked up the house, set the alarm, and scooped her up into his arms. She definitely wasn’t balking at being the center of his universe for a little while. This was what they both needed. Jessie also knew it was what they both wanted. It would never be sinful to give into a little want.

***

  



End file.
